Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

UTILISATION

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in appearance, flavour and its ability to “pop”. It is usually parched and milled,

and the dough made into pancakes. It can also be cooked for gruel, or popped

and made into confections, or powdered and made into a drink. It contains about

14–18% protein and also high levels of the essential amino-acids lysine and

methionine that are usually deficient in plant protein. The seed also contains

tocotrienols, a form of Vitamin E which are believed to lower cholesterol levels

in humans. It is also highly digestible, and therefore appropriate for people

recovering from illness or famine. In Mexico it is popped and mixed with a

sugar solution called alegria (happiness) and is also used to make a traditional

Mexican drink atole.

• providing about 5% protein, especially from the Smooth Pigweed Amaranthus
  hybridus. Tea can also be made with the leaves, which is said to have astringent
  properties and to cure dysentery, diarrhoea and ulcers.


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  especially in the tropics, such as the Globe Amaranth Gomphrena globosa and
  Amaranthus paniculatus.

  
  

LIMITATIONS

• Amaranth plants can grow too vigorously and become a weed; in a survey of 15
  States in North America, Pigweeds were reported to be one of the five weeds
  that caused the greatest yield loss in maize fields. The Alligator Weed
  (Alternanthera philoxeroides) is another example of an Amaranth that can
  become a serious nuisance.


• The seedhead shatters readily, which not only wastes food but also can create
  weed problems for the following crop.


• Little agronomic data is available for example the response to day length of
  the different varieties is not well understood. India is one of the countries most
  involved with research. Some research is also conducted in the USA, China,
  Mexico and Nepal.


• Shortage of good quality seed, especially of named, improved varieties with
  well described characteristics.


• The pollen of the Noxious Pigweed Amaranthus retroflexus can cause an
  allergic reaction.

Grain–can be considered as a pseudo-cereal. The pale coloured grain is the best

Leaves and plant thinnings are made into spinach type vegetable dishes,

Other Amaranth species—several are grown to be used as ornamentals,

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270 TONY WINCH